The Study On Black Economic Empowerment In South Africa

Black Economic Empowerment has been one of the major initiatives to support black economic development by the new South African government after 1994.Its original purpose was to improve the proportion of black people’s ownership and shares in large enterprises,then gradually evolved into the macroeconomic strategy which was to improve the economic status of black people.The implementation of Black Economic Empowerment by South African government has a profound historical background,it was based on the anti-apartheid struggle to obtain freedom and liberty,and took the Reconstruction and Development Plan as a starting point,which aimed at supporting the economic development of Historically Disadvantaged South Africans.Black Economic Empowerment was the product of long-standing economic struggle between blacks and whites.It was a strategic approach used by the South African government to resolve historical issues and most importantly was a practical need for economic transformation in South Africa.This thesis argues that the definition or interpretation of the South African Black Economic Empowerment has gone through a change from a limited perspective to a broader sense,rising from simple government policies to the macroeconomic development strategy which was a combination of national legislature and government administration.Based on the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act in 2003,this thesis divides the process of the South Africa Black Economic Empowerment into two phases.The first phase of the Black Economic Empowerment lasted until 2003.The second phase was from 2003 to the present time,which has been the gradual adjustment and continuous improvement of Black Economic Empowerment.First of all,this thesis discussed the main contents,the development process as well as the origin of Black Economic Empowerment.Secondly,the author analyzed the laws,regulations and transformation charter which were engaged in Black Economic Empowerment by successive South African governments.At the same time,from the angle of economic levers,the author discussed the practical results of the Black Economic Empowerment.In addition,this thesis took South African wine industry as an individual case and analyzed the achievements and problems as well as the expectation of Black Economic Empowerment in the wine industry.Finally,the author discussed different ethnic groups’ perception on Black Economic Empowerment,then evaluated the developments of the South African Black Economic Empowerment in twenty years.The study found out that South Africa Black Economic Empowerment has made some positive results,such as the laws and regulations related empowerment are constantly revised and improved,the financing facilities of middle,small and micro black owned enterprise are increasingly convenient,as well as the black middle class has grown in strength and influence.However,because of the political and economic changes in South Africa,Black Economic Empowerment experienced complex adjustments and transformation.It has been questioned by many people in the South African society and has become one of South Africa’s controversial economic policies.A small group of black crony elites and white oligarchs came together to form the Mineral-Energy Complex,they have used their power and influential position in the government,and accumulated capital to take advantage of the Black Economic Empowerment.This resulted in this small group making a lot of money and riches in a short time.Nevertheless,the majority of the ordinary black masses did not benefit enough from the Black Economic Empowerment.In the future,the implementation of the South African Black Economic Empowerment has long way to go.This thesis was devoted to the interdisciplinary arguments based on economic history research.Because of the complexity and inherent contradictions of the South African Black Economic Empowerment,it required the author to combine theory and research methods of multiple disciplines.Therefore,in the process of investigating and evaluating the dimension of Black Economic Empowerment development,the author attempted to go beyond the simple research approach of historical traces and value judgment,focusing on the use of economics,political science,management science,law and other multidisciplinary ideas and methods to reveal the root cause of economic development problems of black South Africans.